Legal

Don't tell Nancy Grace that Diddy's jury should cut him a break for beating and kicking Cassie in the video jurors will watch next week ... she says what you see is EXACTLY the man he is.

Nancy appears on TMZ's new weekly series on Tubi, "TMZ Presents: United States V. Sean Combs: Inside the Diddy Trial," along with Harvey, Mark Geragos, Ashleigh Banfield and Eboni K. Williams.

Eboni suggests the defense will argue Diddy should not be judged by what he did on the worst day of his life. When Nancy heard that, she went ballistic, and everyone else joined in.

The courthouse at the center of the Sean "Diddy" Combs sex trafficking trial got a noticeable facelift over the weekend as crews prepared for the intense continued media spotlight in the coming days.

TMZ obtained video which shows workers repainting security barricades outside the Federal District Court in Lower Manhattan on Sunday. The crews were touching up areas all over the property, giving the site a cleaner, sharper look ahead of trial proceedings.

A fresh coat of black paint was applied to the front-facing barricades, where much of the media has been and will continue to be staged as the world watches.

Diddy is a friend who doesn't deserve to be abandoned ... so says celebrity attorney Mark Geragos, who may or may not be representing him.

Geragos hedged, on the "2 Angry Men" podcast, whether he was among Diddy's pack of lawyers repping him in the criminal trial.

Harvey pressed him, ticking off a load of evidence pointing to Geragos being part of the team -- he was in the gallery all last week passing notes back and forth with Diddy and his lawyers, he went into chambers with lead attorney Marc Agnifilo and came out of chambers with an arm wrapped around Agnifilo's shoulder and he huddled with the defense team -- including his daughter, Teny Geragos -- in the 8th floor cafeteria. In fact, he was so involved, he didn't have time to press his rumpled suit.

Blake Lively's lawyers are asking a judge to force Justin Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and others to hand over financial records ... claiming that if they want to sue for $400 million, they have to prove they really lost that much.

The actress's team sent a letter to the judge Friday requesting the parties involved in the lawsuit filed against her cough up the records ... which they say they've already tried to obtain

Lively's team claims they met with counsel for Baldoni's side and asked for them to hand over the documents -- but were told they would only be given "non-privileged documents concerning their damages" ... not the docs they requested.

Diddy's lawyers better not bully the prosecution's very pregnant star witness when she takes the stand next week ... so admonishes Nancy Grace!

Cassie Ventura's upcoming testimony became an explosive topic on our new Tubi weekly series, "TMZ Presents United States V. Sean Combs: Inside the Diddy Trial."

Nancy appeared with Harvey, Mark Geragos, Ashleigh Banfield and Eboni K. Williams as they discussed the optics of grilling Cassie about the freak-offs for which Diddy is being tried.

Taylor Swift is being dragged further into the Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni beef -- she just got hit with a subpoena in the case.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... Baldoni's attorney Bryan Freedman has now subpoenaed Taylor as a witness in the Lively-Baldoni legal war.

Taylor's camp is blasting the subpoena, because they say she was minimally involved in the drama on the set of "It Ends With Us" ... which sparked a nasty legal war between Blake and Justin.

Druski's not only fighting back against the woman accusing him of rape -- he also wants her attorneys held accountable for not vetting claims he says are provably false ... and he's going to court with receipts.

The comedian and actor filed docs Friday in federal court, calling out Ashley Parham's legal team, citing several documents that clearly refute her allegation he raped her in Northern California on March 23, 2018 ... along with Diddy, Odell Beckham Jr. and others.

However, in the docs, Druski says Parham filed a police report accusing a guy named Shane Pearce and an anonymous white man of raping her on March 23, 2018. The report apparently makes no mention of any other alleged attackers, and Druski says the document was "easily obtainable from the public record."

Bryan Kohberger allegedly ogled photos of college coeds in swimsuits in the months before he allegedly murdered four University of Idaho students.

Some more of Bryan's alleged cell phone browsing history is being revealed by "Dateline" ... they say they got info from cops showing Bryan was checking out female college students in bikinis.

And, get this ... NBC News says they dug through social media and found some of the bikini-clad coeds on Bryan's phone were friends with or followers of 3 of the 4 students Kohberger is accused of murdering ... Xana Kernodle, Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen.

Kanye West's threatening letter to Kim Kardashian accusing her of exploiting their kids is just a stunt designed to piss off Kim -- one with zero legal bite ... TMZ has learned.

Here's the deal ... on Friday, Ye's purported lawyer, Kathy Johnson, supposedly sent Kim's attorney, Laura Wasser, a cease and desist letter, "concerning the welfare and custody of Mr. West’s minor children: North West, Saint West, Chicago West, and Psalm West."

But we spotted a bunch of red flags pointing to this being a phony correspondence, including the claim Johnson works for a JB Law Firm in Palma, Spain. We've found no record of any such firm in that town ... there is one in the Canary Islands, but a website link for that firm doesn't work, nor does the phone number.

Al B. Sure! says he's the last man breathing who knows the truth about Diddy, and has no issue using the last of his oxygen -- to take him down!!!

The R&B singer appeared on FOX 5 New York earlier today to promote his forthcoming memoir, where he raised questions about his late ex Kim Porter's death.

Al claims Kim used to warn him to "watch his back" around Diddy and disputed the coroner's ruling that a healthy 47-year-old woman could suddenly die from pneumonia.

50 Cent has been using A.I. magic to highlight his thoughts on Diddy's ongoing federal sex trafficking trial and jury selection ... all roads point to GUILTY!!!

On Friday, 50 laughed at Diddy's current defense strategy by posting A.I. images of himself as a lawyer in the courtroom rummaging through docs with a wisecrack ... "Your Honor this theory of Cassie kicking Diddy ass, I’m not buying it!"

Diddy's defense team argued that Cassie was an equal distributor of pain throughout their relationship ... more details could emerge when she takes the stand next week.

Elizabeth Smart is breaking her silence following the latest legal issue with one of her kidnappers, Wanda Barzee ... ripping her for allegedly getting near some kids.

Elizabeth, who was just 14 years old when she was kidnapped, voiced concerns about Barzee's alleged parole violation.

As we reported ... police in Utah say Barzee was arrested last week after detectives say she allegedly visited at least two public parks in Salt Lake City, a big no-no for the registered sex offender.

Finesse2tymes can count a new legal win on his stacked docket ... his wild terroristic threat criminal case from the top of the year has been thrown out!!!

TMZ Hip Hop obtained court docs filed on Friday, May 9, showing prosecutors moved to dismiss Finesse's case because the allegations couldn't be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.  The judge signed off on the dismissal.

Carl A. Moore, Finesse2tymes' attorney, tells TMZ Hip Hop … Mr. Ricky Hampton maintained his innocence from the onset of this case and justice prevailed today.

The Menendez Brothers got good news today in court in their ongoing quest for freedom ... a judge has denied a petition to stop a resentencing hearing from happening, and the brothers will get their day in court next week for the next step.

L.A. County Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic rejected the prosecution's motion to stop next week's resentencing hearing, finding there's no new information revealed in a risk assessment report on the brothers that would stop the consideration.

Friday, details from the Compliance Risk Assessment (CRA) were revealed -- Lyle broke prison rules last year for being in possession of a phone. This year, Erik also broke rules, by having a cellphone and communicating with someone outside prison, and by purchasing and trading drugs, and lastly, performing tax fraud.

Diddy jurors are going to see plenty of video of Diddy beating Cassie in a hotel hallway ... because prosecutors say they plan to show multiple versions of the graphic footage during his trial.

The feds revealed during Friday's court proceedings in Diddy's sex trafficking trial in NYC that they plan to show two videos of the beating that a security guard at the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles recorded on a cell phone.

What's more, prosecutors say they will also show three versions of the Cassie beating video that first aired on CNN.

2 PM PT -- Turns out Kanye West's threatening letter to Kim Kardashian accusing her of exploiting their kids is a hoax.

After we spotted a bunch of red flags pointing to this being a phony correspondence -- Kanye's camp confirms to us the letter is bogus ... and they say Ye had nothing to do with it.

Kanye West says Kim Kardashian is not only exploiting their children, but he claims she left North all alone in a car while prancing around the Met Gala this week ... and now he's threatening to drag her to court over all of it.

The rapper's lawyer, Kathy Johnson, sent Kim's attorney, Laura Wasser, a cease and desist letter, "concerning the welfare and custody of Mr. West’s minor children: North West, Saint West, Chicago West, and Psalm West."

As you know, Kim and Kanye got divorced in 2021 after 7 years of marriage and 4 kids. As part of their divorce settlement, they have joint custody of the kids and Kanye pays $200K every month in child support.